Summary

To find motivated sellers, focus on leads who have a clear reason to sell quickly, including expireds, FSBOs, pre-foreclosures, properties in need of care, and homeowners going through major life changes. Scouting neighborhoods, networking with attorneys, and watching pricing patterns can help you build out your local pipeline. Working verified online leads with a good real estate CRM that includes a dialer and tracker can help you identify potential customers and win business faster.

Details	Information
Time to Read	~8–10 minutes
What You’ll Learn	The definition of a motivated seller in real estate How to prospect for sellers in your community Where wholesale real estate listings fit in The best listings for closing a quick sale
Next Steps	Get verified FSBO and expired listings from Vulcan7 Use Vulcan7’s real estate CRM to track your process

How To Find Motivated Sellers

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”  12th century proverb

No matter how good you are at working real estate seller leads, if you are dealing with a homeowner who is not a motivated seller, you’ll be wasting a lot of time and energy.

Of course, as we’ll touch upon later in this post, there is something to be said for nurturing your contact base so when they’re motivated, you’ll be the first agent they call.

There are two ways to approach this. You can build seller lists manually, or you can use industry-leading online resources like Vulcan7’s real estate CRM to find motivated sellers instead. In this post, we’ll show you why the best agents in the business leverage both and how you can benefit from doing the same.

What Is a Motivated Seller?

A “motivated seller” is any property owner who wants to close a deal and move on from the property as soon as they possibly can.

They may be:

• Going through a major life change, such as divorce, death in the family, or job loss.
• Planning a relocation due to retirement, a new job, or another major move.
• Listing the home below market value to attract a faster sale.
• Falling behind on mortgage payments and trying to avoid foreclosure.
• Neglecting the property in ways that suggest the owner is ready to let it go.

If several of these signs show up at once, there’s a good chance the homeowner is under some kind of pressure to part ways with the property. That’s your cue to step in and help them get the job done.

Finding Motivated Sellers Locally

Old-school manual prospecting is still worth it for tracking down motivated sellers. Very often, leads like these aren’t actually on anyone else’s radar or listings yet, so there’s less competition.

You can identify potential sellers by:

• Driving around your local neighborhoods. Overgrown yards, deferred maintenance, and other signs of neglect often point to an owner who wants out. So can a house that’s chronically empty.
• Networking with local attorneys. They often handle sales tied to divorce, bankruptcy, or estate situations, and as an agent, you may even need their help at some point.
• Watching for pricing patterns. Steep price cuts or prices well under comparables usually point to an anxious seller, an underperforming agent, or both.
• Sending direct mail campaigns. Design postcards in Canva in minutes, then build a recipient list from public records. Property tax rolls, county filings, and probate notices can be an excellent source of info on motivated sellers.

The drawback, here, is that local prospecting will still cost you time, and time is money. That’s why you should still be looking at faster ways to build your business and flesh out your seller lists simultaneously. 

Finding Motivated Seller Leads Online

The fastest way to find motivated seller leads online is to let Vulcan7 do the sourcing and tracking while you focus on the calls. Our industry-leading real estate platform gives you everything you need to build your business, including fresh leads with verified contact data delivered right to your desktop every day.

This includes:

• Expireds
• FSBOs
• Pre-foreclosures
• Circle prospecting
• FRBOs

You also get access to a CRM with a built-in auto-dialer that can help you supercharge your prospecting sessions each day. The more calls you make, the more likely you are to get the deal!

Expireds

When we consider degrees of seller motivation, clearly, homeowners with a recently expired listing sit at the highest end of the motivation scale. Vulcan7 has been long-recognized as a leader in the real estate industry because we provide the most accurate leads each morning, 365 days a year.

But if you haven’t worked with expireds before, we thought it might help to give you a primer.

First, when it comes to expired listings, always remember:

• You can assume they are motivated because they’ve already made the decision to sell their home.
• 40% list within one month.
• Nearly 4 in 10 will list with a new agent.

Expired listings can be a very lucrative revenue opportunity if you approach them right. For some agents, it’s the bulk of their business. For others, it’s just one part of a much broader strategy.

How to Work With Expireds

Focus on those critical, initial seconds to position yourself. Let the homeowner know how you would do things differently (“This is how I helped X homeowners sell their property while your home was for sale“).

Remind them about what motivated them to sell in the first place: the importance of their next move, and don’t lose touch with the unique opportunities old expired listings can bring.

To get the most benefit from expireds:

• Don’t consider them cold calls because they have a home to sell and don’t have an agent.
• Call early and be persistent in your follow-up with expireds. Prove that you are dedicated to selling their property, and they’ll reward you with their business.
• Show them you remember their property by mentioning specifics about it and speaking about it as if you’ve been there many times before, even if you haven’t.
• Remember that time and price are the things they are most concerned about.
• Have your stats at the ready, because expireds want to see examples of your quick sales, especially if they were above the listing price.
• Be persistent about getting an in-person listing presentation. Avoid having to make a listing presentation over the phone, or even via Zoom, if at all possible.
• Show the homeowner how you would be a partner and problem solver. Give them concrete examples of how you went above and beyond for other clients.
• You might discover that the homeowner previously listed with a friend. Turn this into your advantage without insulting them: “I appreciate great friendships, but do you think you gave your friend the best chance to sell your home?”
• Be straightforward if the client asks if you’re willing to negotiate commission: “It depends on many factors, such as the condition of your home and the price we set. We can discuss that in more detail when we meet tomorrow.”
• Firmly and politely fight through the objections until you secure the listing presentation.

Expireds are highly likely to be frustrated that they couldn’t sell during their previous listing. If you can help them achieve their goal, you are likely to get glowing references from that homeowner down the road. And who doesn’t want a glowing reference in this super-competitive industry?

For Sale by Owner (FSBOs)

The second category of motivated homeowners are sellers who decide to go it alone, or For Sale by Owner leads. FSBOs are motivated to sell, but at first won’t be motivated enough to pay a commission to an agent. This is especially true if their home is in a high demand neighborhood or seller’s market.

Even in the most ideal circumstance, FSBOs typically come around to asking for professional help after going it alone for a month or so. They require a bit more TLC than the average homeowner. 

To win their business:

1. Stay in touch. Do your best to keep your name top of mind because FSBOs often get frustrated quickly when trying to go it alone. By staying in touch on a regular basis, you stand a better chance of being their go-to agent once they’ve had enough of going solo.
2. Validate their feelings to build trust. Affirm your FSBO prospect’s decision to go solo: “Great idea to sell on your own; I think you’ll have a lot of success. And if you need any help, let me know.” FSBOs need to discover, on their own, that they need a professional. By being patient and positive, you put yourself in an excellent position to get the listing when they finally make it.
3. Guide FSBOs with solid questions. Open-ended questions help to uncover the homeowner’s motivation. For example, if the FSBO says “I’m selling on my own to save money,” you might respond with: “That makes total sense, but let me ask, what does saving money look like to you?”
4. Ease up on the hard sell. Yes, persistence is important. But, an overly-aggressive approach might suggest to the homeowner that you think they made the wrong decision by selling on their own. This can turn them away.
5. Build rapport by building value. You want to build rapport and trust early on. By supporting a FSBO’s efforts to sell in the short-term, they’re more likely to remember when they’re ready for a pro. Offer to help with paperwork. Give them advice on creating curb appeal.
6. Let them do most of the talking. Your instinct might be to do as much “selling” as possible in your initial contact. Instead, ask open-ended questions. A great rule-of-thumb is to allow your FSBO prospect to do about 70% of the talking in that first conversation.

With a patient, value-added approach, you can set yourself up to be the “go-to agent” when the prospect finally throws up their hands and says: “It’ll be worth it to pay a commission!”

Other Seller Lead Resources

Expireds and FSBOs represent the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to looking for motivated, and soon to be motivated, prospects. But Vulcan7 offers other lead databases that, when nurtured, set you up for success when a homeowner’s motivation to sell kicks into gear.

• Pre-foreclosure leads: as we mentioned in the first section above, homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments might be in danger of having the lender foreclose on their property. These homeowners may be open to selling to stay out of foreclosure.
• Circle prospecting: Vulcan7 gives you the tools to connect with homeowners in the vicinity of your “just listed” or “just sold” properties.
• For rent by owner (FRBO): Vulcan7 identifies real estate investors who can, in the long run, become significant sources of repeat business.

Remember, regardless of economic conditions or your own market dynamics, there will ALWAYS be motivated sellers for the reasons we outlined at the beginning of this post.

Win More Business With Vulcan7

Top-producing agents know prospecting is a daily commitment. Pair that consistency with the right tools, and you put yourself in position to take the lion’s share of listings from motivated sellers in your market. 

If you’re looking for motivated sellers, Vulcan7 is the best place to start. Get verified leads with the most accurate contact info in the industry today and learn why thousands of agents love it so much.

Become a Vulcan7 Member Now